Johnson Thriving in Strawberry’s Absence

Howard Johnson read the other day what Frank Viola said about the Mets and he didn’t like it one bit. Viola said some players have cowered from responsibility now that Darryl Strawberry, the preeminent lightning rod for the bolts of public scrutiny, no longer is there.

“I haven’t heard anyone in here talk about feeling the heat,” Johnson said. “What Frank said, I would never say. I’d never say anything like that. What good can possibly come from saying something like that? None at all. All it does is put an image out there that this team can’t stand pressure. Well, we can.”

Maybe so, but Johnson is the only Met proving he can prosper in Strawberry’s absence. He is having the best season of his eight-year career, with 15 home runs, which lead the National League, and 47 runs batted in, more than every player in the league but the Braves’ David Justice.

Without Strawberry’s big bat in the lineup, Johnson has emerged as a force of his own, elevating himself from a standout supporting player to the level of the game’s elite impact players. His 47 RBI in 63 games are seven more than Strawberry ever had at this point of a season. It is Johnson who is giving the Mets that monster season.

“Howard’s always been appreciated by us,” Dave Magadan said. “We know he’s up there on the same level as Straw. He’s that type of player, but without the way Straw has of always stealing headlines. Howard is a player’s player. That’s the biggest difference.”

Johnson plays like a leading man but acts like one of the stagehands. His locker is behind a pillar, next to the bullpen catcher, in the clubhouse. He spends his rare idle time reading the Bible, listening to Luther Vandross or sipping decaffeinated iced tea.

He spends much of his time alone, especially since the Mets traded Tim Teufel, a fellow born-again Christian and “the one guy I talked to the most,” Johnson said. So it is no surprise that someone with such a tame profile will not announce himself as Strawberry’s successor, though he has accounted for 27 percent of the team’s runs, 6 percent more than Strawberry produced last year.

“I understand a certain amount of responsibility falls on my shoulders with Darryl gone,” Johnson said. “I just try to do all I’m capable of doing. I don’t try to be Darryl Strawberry. I don’t hit the ball like he does. I don’t do a lot of things he does.

“I felt with him gone I was going to get more opportunities to be a force in the lineup. But the same goes for some other guys in the lineup, like (Kevin McReynolds) and Hubie (Broooks). I’m not the guy here. We have a lot of guys. We’ll all have opportunities. Mine’s right now.”

It was only three months ago in Florida that Johnson was asked to supply the team’s left-handed power, anchor the infield while playing shortstop every day, steal bases, assume a leadership role and prove his new religion would not deflate his zeal for the game. Now, the team’s most vulnerable player has blossomed into its most valuable one. Johnson is back at third base -- he needs only six more games there to become the franchise leader in games played at the position -- but otherwise he has done everything the Mets have asked.

“I’ve never been going this good this far into the season,” Johnson said. “And I’ve never been leading in home runs. It’s been real nice. I know at the end of the year I may have real good numbers. I realize I could have a really, really good season. I understand all that. But I don’t want to get caught up in thinking what can happen and just how good it can be. My job is to be prepared to play every day as best as I can.”

Johnson hit in seven spots in the lineup last year. This season, manager Bud Harrelson has left him in the fourth or fifth spot.

“That,” Johnson said, “has really helped me get in a groove mentally.”

It also has allowed him more opportunities to drive in runs. Entering the game last night in Atlanta, Johnson actually hit better last year (.302) with runners in scoring position than this year (.294). So why is he on a pace to improve his RBI from 90 to 121? This season, Johnson had 68 at-bats with runners in scoring position in 63 games -- by far the most on the club. At that rate he would finish with 175 such at-bats, or 36 more than he had last year.

Johnson’s smashing season, therefore, is simply more of the same -- more chances to drive in runs. But at least Johnson has seized on those chances. It is not so much replacing Strawberry as it is carrying on without him.

McReynolds, Magadan and Gregg Jefferies have been disappointments, giving the Mets even less than when Strawberry was around. Vince Coleman’s average has dropped 33 points from last year. Brooks has driven in some runs, but he has contributed nothing on defense or, surprisingly, in the clubhouse.

The Mets are an inert, third-place team without Strawberry. Just think where they would be without Johnson.